Reading the classics!

BBC Learning English
6 Minute English
Reading the classics
NB: This is not a word for word transcript
6 Minute English © bbclearningenglish.com 2010
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Alice: Hello – this is 6 Minute English, I'm Alice and today, I'm joined by
Yvonne. Hello, Yvonne!
Yvonne: Hello Alice!
Alice: Now Yvonne, if I said Don Quixote, what would you say?
Yvonne: Oh, it's a famous classic Spanish novel – but that's all, because sadly, I've
never read it.
Alice: Oh well, don't worry - because you're not the only one! In fact, Don Quixote
has been described as Spain's best-known, but least read book.
Yvonne: So like me, most people have heard of it, but not many people have actually
read it.
Alice: Exactly. But before we find out what the Royal Spanish Academy is doing
about that, here's today's question: in 2005, the BBC announced the UK's bestloved
- or favourite book. What was it?
6 Minute English © bbclearningenglish.com 2010
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a) Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by JK Rowling
b) The Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkien or
c) Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
Yvonne, what was your guess before you looked up the answer?
Yvonne: Well, I said Harry Potter - because I must be the only person on earth who’s
never read it!
Alice: Oh, me neither! Isn’t that terrible? Well we'll find out what the UK's best-loved
book is later on. Now people say that most Spaniards have never managed to
finish reading Don Quixote, even though it's a classic. What do you think
makes a classic novel or book, Yvonne?
Yvonne: Well, excellent writing that people want to continue reading into the future, but,
it doesn't have to be old - although Miguel De Cervantes finished writing Don
Quixote way back in 1615.
Alice: No, I suppose you can have modern classics. But the Royal Spanish Academy
has been trying to get people to feel more passionate, more excited, about this
old book by using new technology. And what they're doing seems to be
working, as the BBC's Nkem Ifejika reports:
6 Minute English © bbclearningenglish.com 2010
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Extract 1: Nkem Ifejika, BBC reporter
Byte size chunks for a sound bite culture - the novel was divided into 2,149 short
passages. Any Spanish speaker can then pick a passage, record themselves reading it
and upload to the internet. A quick search for video of Don Quixote shows they've
already done so; the novel being read aloud by people across the globe - the exact
manner in which young servants used to read it when it was written, never all at once.
Alice: So the novel was divided up into 2,149 short passages or sections – what
Nkem Ifejika describes as 'bite size chunks for a sound bite culture'. Yvonne,
can you help us out with that phrase, please?
Yvonne: I'll try, Alice. Now, lots of people can't or don't like to concentrate – or focus
on one thing for a long period of time, so they're happier with things they can
do quickly – with 'bite size chunks' of information, for example.
Alice: And what would you say is 'a sound bite culture'?
Yvonne: Well, lots of us like to listen to a short piece about something rather than read
about it, so we're 'a sound bite culture'. For example, we seem to enjoy short,
snappy advertisements that get messages across really quickly.
Alice: Yes - and more and more people on trains are listening to a chapter of a book
on their iPods rather than reading it. As we heard, it's all about 'bite size
chunks for a sound bite culture!'
Yvonne: It certainly is!
6 Minute English © bbclearningenglish.com 2010
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Alice: Now the Royal Spanish Academy is asking people to read passages of Don
Quixote out loud, just as people used to when the book was first written in the
1600s. People never read the entire book all at once.
Yvonne: And most people don't do that today either.
Alice: No, they don't - but Spanish speakers from all over the world are recording
themselves reading Don Quixote out loud, which means more people are
learning about and can listen to this classic.
Yvonne: And that's a good thing – plus, I think it must be fun listening to all those
different voices reading it.
Alice: And lots of different accents.
Yvonne: Hmmm – really nice.
Alice: What about other classics? Here's what a few of our colleagues had to say
about what they've read – or rather, what they haven't!
Extract 2: BBC Learning English colleagues
MAN: I read a lot of Dickens and I even read Moby Dick when I was at school -
and I think I am one of the few people who's ever read Don Quixote.
WOMAN: Well, I’ve read quite a few classics, mainly English classics like Thomas
Hardy and Jane Austen. However I did try to read James Joyce’s Ulysses
and actually carried it around on holiday with me for 6 weeks once - and I
still didn’t manage to get through it!
6 Minute English © bbclearningenglish.com 2010
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Alice: Ah-ha – so we've found someone who's read lots of classics and has even read
Don Quixote!
Yvonne: Good – the Royal Spanish Academy will be extremely pleased.
Alice: They certainly will, although he read the translation of it in English. He's also
read Moby Dick, an American classic about a whale.
Yvonne: Now I've never been able to finish reading that!
Alice: Well, unlike many of us, our other colleague has done rather well - although
she hasn't managed to finish the Irish classic, Ulysses.
Yvonne: Well, that's not exactly relaxing reading, is it?
Alice: No, it’s not really holiday reading I think. Now earlier on, Yvonne, I asked:
which is the UK's favourite book? You thought it was Harry Potter and the
Goblet of Fire – which is a good guess, but it's Lord of the Rings by JRR
Tolkien. He wrote the book between 1937 and 1949 - mainly during the
Second World War.
Yvonne: Now that is amazing. I couldn't concentrate long enough to write a book -
during a war. No way!
6 Minute English © bbclearningenglish.com 2010
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Alice: No, it’s probably because now, we live in ‘a sound bite culture’ and need ‘bite
size chunks’! Well, that's all for today's 6 Minute English. Join us again soon
for more.
Both: Goodbye!